The smell of salt sticks to our hair like molasses,
And the traces of the sunshine stay on our skin.
The summer breeze softly coats our weary hearts,
The ones that were exhausted from a heavy spring.
The heat starts to build beneath our tired feet,
The ones that have been running from uncertainty.
The sweat begins to drip down and, with it, our fears.
The heat is steadily detoxing us from our stale thoughts.
The rays of the sun start to trickle into our hearts.
They try to light us back up with the hope we need.
It’s in this moment that I think of you and wonder,
Do you think you can open up to let the summer in?
Can you let it fuel the passion that simmered in spring?
Do you think you can bask in the daylight?
While also basking in all you’ve overcome?
Because what if the summer doesn’t bring more doubt?
What if this summer’s heat puts us back on our feet?
As the concrete starts to slowly burn beneath our soles,
Maybe we’ll all meet in the water to replenish our souls.
Maybe it’ll help us all return to an ocean full of hope,
To soak in the shifts and float the questions together.
Yes, there will likely be more waves still to come,
But maybe it’s a chance to float in the wake of change.
What if the summer heat can teach us how to love again,
By alchemizing all of our rage into radical compassion?
What if the summer heat can force us to retreat
And to surrender to the unpredictability of life?
What if the summer heat can bring us all together,
Splashing in the same water and under the same sun?
What if the summer heat can start to shed a light
On everyone who ever felt subject to darkness?
What if the summer heat can teach us empathy,
By showing us how to shade anyone burned?
What if the summer heat can be the final step
To the deep growth we’ve been experiencing?
What if the summer heat forces us to take off layers
And frees us from the anxiety we’ve worn too long?
What if the summer heat finally inspires us to rise
From the ashes of what we thought we should be?
What if the summer heat is all that’s missing
To bring a new normal that’s better than the old?
The smell of salt sticks to our hair like molasses
And the traces of the sunshine stay on our skin.
The summer breeze softly coats our weary hearts,
The ones that were exhausted from a heavy spring.
Here comes a heat wave, and with it love.
Here comes a heat wave, and with it hope.
Here comes a heat wave, and with it truth.
And may it leave its mark on our souls, too.
Image via Dana Hursey, Issue 15
